In late November 2021, Ven. Wathumulle Sumanasara Thero came in contact with good hands, after seeing a Facebook Post. He was in constant contact with us and invited us to a seed nursery project for the temple and the villagers with great enthusiasm for the concept of good hands project. Later observations revealed that this area was a very remote area which was destroyed due to the conflict between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, a program on Seed nurseries was held for the villagers of Pavatkulama village on the 23rd of February at the premises of the Pavatkulama Sri Abhinawarama Temple. More than 35-40 villagers participated in this event which was held at the temple premises with great enthusiasm. Following an awareness program on the project and coconut cultivation, we were able to Nurse Coconut seeds, plant coconut seedlings in the temple grounds and discuss practical issues related to coconut cultivation faced by the villagers. In the end, we provided free coconut seeds for the nursery, coconut seedlings and good hands manuals to the participating villagers.
After the Tasks of the Abhinawarama, we launched a program for the Muslim families living in Pavakkulama village. Due to the participation of several Muslim vilagers in the program held at the Sri Abhinawarama Temple, we were able to explain easily about the project to the Muslim community and distribute coconut seeds and seedlings. More than 30 members of Muslim families enthusiastically participated in the event, which was held near Al-Amin Muslim College which highlighted the current high demand for coconuts.
That evening, at the invitation of Ven. Dhammanandha, we launched another program at Awaranthulawa, Sri Chethiyagira Purana Rajamaha Viharaya and the Dhamma School premises. The event was also attended by members of the Rural Civil Defense Unit and several villagers. We also conducted a coconut seedling nursery and coconut planting program at Dhamma Schools and temples. At the same time, solutions to the problems of the audience and the good hands manual were also distributed free of charge.
During the programs conducted in the above areas, seed coconut nurseries and coconut seedlings were established at Ulukkulama, Irattaperiyakulama and Medawachchiya police stations. At the invitation of the OICs of each police station, we organized several programs and our project was highly praised by them. Finally, we handed over the good hands manual to the officers of those police stations and invited them to further spread the concept of good hands throughout Sri Lanka.
Leave a Reply